We've pretty much run through the list of current people's offerings on presentations, so rather than wait any longer, I want to get this discussion started. This will give people time to think and prepare for the next meeting or two (or three).
The question is, what do you all want to see demonstrated and/or learn about? A secondary question is, on which topic(s) do you want to present?
All of you new people who showed up the last two or three meetings need to chime in and tell us what you want to see. Why did you come to a meeting, other than to see something presented about Drupal, so you could get more of an idea of what it is about and how to use it? Give us some specific information so we can target you and get something prepared to hopefully address your questions.
Something I thought of recently that might be a good beginning/intermediate topic is a Views tips and tricks presentation, where I (or someone else) will show off some of the neat and more interesting things one can do with Views. This will take some time for me to prepare, as I primarily only use views for table listings, but it is something I want to learn more about, and learn more by doing than by seeing.
Another presentation I could do, that would probably be more of an intermediate level, is a basic how to get started creating a module or a theme (one at a time, please). Some of the items I would touch on would be: which files are necessary, which fields or directives are available in those files and what they do, some of the more common Drupal functions and briefly how to use them.
I could also do a more advanced presentation and get more in depth into module development, but that's such a large and wide-open topic area, that we would need to nail down specific points of interest. I have not yet done anything with Drupal 7, so I would need a bit more time to learn the new and different things in there.
I suspect there are people who would be interested in seeing how to setup an e-commerce system in Drupal, either using Drupal Commerce with Drupal 7 or Ubercart with Druapl 6. That is not something I have done much on, so that would be better for someone else who has the experience and knowledge, and who has dealt with some of the various nuances of dealing with an e-commerce system.
There are four ideas. Comment and add more ideas and/or expand on or refine the ones I've presented above. Regardless, please share your thoughts, wishes and desires. Enquiring minds... :^)
Comments
Presentation length
Something to think about when coming up with and refining ideas, is that we should probably target a presentation length of about 30-45 minutes. That way we have time for people to see both presentations and time for other things, like Q&A, changing presenters, setup and tear down, etc.
possible presentations
I find the presentations extremely valuable. Here is a big thank you to every presenter, you are helping more than you could ever know.
It is always easier, particularly when you are just starting out, to identify what you need to learn than what you might be qualified to teach others. On the “learn” side, three things that I would like to learn more about are “references”, a “realistic development strategy”, and a few simple guidelines about creating/reusing CCK fields.
On the references side, just trying to figure out how to structure reference connections between nodes, users, URLs, etc., and which way the references point, seems to be missing from the documentation. I am slugging it out by trial and error, but I know I am missing at least 50% of the power of these features. I would love to have a more in depth presentation of how/when to use them.
On the development strategy side, one of the things I have learned, rather painfully I might add, is how easy it is to get things into the database that you just can’t get out. Actually, you may be able to fix it if you understand SQL, but for those of us who don’t, it is simply not possible. The problem is more glaring in Drupal 7 because of all the developer versions that are out there, most with bugs still in them. For example, when you install and then activate a module, there is often a onetime configuration process that cannot be, or at least I have not been able to find a way to, removed or modified once it has been completed. Uninstalling and reinstalling the module doesn’t reset the configuration settings. Also, in testing new modules you can find you have gone down a path that cannot be easily erased. It has taken me a while learn these painful lessons and to develop a strategy that allows me to easily and safely roll back to earlier versions.
This is a beginner/intermediate level issue. I would be happy to share my strategy/method if others are interested, but mine has been developed simply by trial and error, so there are probably better approaches that experienced developers could demonstrate. If you do want me to go through mine, let me know; it will only take 10-15 minutes, not 30-40.
On the CCK field use/reuse side, it would seem that there has to be some logic as to the right time to reuse a field. Unfortunately, I have not found any available guidelines or cautions. This is also a beginner/intermediate level issue. I can tell folks what I do, but demonstrating my ignorance on the subject is probably more dangerous than valuable.
The items you introduced would be of value, particularly ecommerce. I would also like to learn more about Taxonomy.
tim
Presentation Ideas
Here's some ideas:
For the beginner presentations, we should do a sequence of presentations (alternate w/ other people if they want). For example:
N00b Presentations:
1. Drupal installation (including db setup), install must-use modules, must do things for the site (i.e. setting up cron, etc.)
2. Create first CCK.
3. Create first View.
4. Other module settings for a basic site (i.e. autopath, Title, setting up WYSIWYG, etc.)
5. Basic styling using css (sorta like basics of css - classes, ids etc)
6. Setting up a multi-site i.e. subdomains
7. Different roles/hats of the drupal developer (themer, styler, developer, etc.)
Intermediate/Advance Presentations
1. Views, Views Slideshow, Views Theming
2. Creating a module
3. Drupal API hook_ system
4. Theming (big topic, so anywhere from theming different content types, preprocess functions)
5. Javascript integration and understanding the DOM
6. Setting up a Dev Environment; different environments for local Dev, remote staging, and live, and using Backup Migrate module to move data and files from one environment to another
7. Source control integration
8. Using Devel module and Performance logging to profile site performance
9. Using Drush
Twitter
-Michael
meaningful error reporting
Hey Jason, it was a good meeting. I just wish I was able to stay later than I was.
As far as subject matter for presentations, I'm coming in to Drupal from a weird position and so I'm not really sure where to start with lesson material. The one main area I can think of is dealing with module / theme authoring and error reporting. I've been working on a few modules and themes for my company's upcoming Drupal site, but am having trouble getting meaningful error messages when I make a small mistake.
For instance, when using hook_menu, you specify a multidimensional array for the new menu items, and one element of each menu item is an array of strings containing permissions. While working on my module, I accidentally just passed a single string instead of an array. When I went to test the page, I got a standard 'invalid argument passed to foreach' error. I know what this error is and what causes it, but when I'm working in a framework like Drupal, it's not obvious which of the 60 lines I just added passed an invalid argument somewhere down the chain.
I'm used to systems like Kohana, where in this situation it would exit execution and display a stack trace, so I can clearly see which argument it didn't like and correct it. Without this meaningful error reporting, I find myself unable to write more than 5 lines of code at a time without checking. If I write 2-300 in a chunk, and then get an error, I am in a terrible situation because I have no idea which line was problematic.
I spoke to Mike briefly before the meetup and he suggested using xdebug in conjuction with the Eclipse IDE to do some debugging, but I've never used xdebug. Someone else suggested modifying php.ini, but I don't think he fully understood the question. I've also heard mention of using the devel module, but my experience with that shows it's slightly different. It would let me dump a backtrace whenever I want, but it doesn't modify the core to dump a backtrace during execution of things like the system theme() function.
With so many sites out there running Drupal, I find it impossible to believe I'm the first person to think that dumping a standard PHP error message to screen is not at all helpful in these situations. There must be a well established, documented solution for getting meaningful error messages.
+1 for a presentation on
+1 for a presentation on Xdebug. From what it is to how to use it. Would be a higher level presentation, but a very valuable tool when learning how to debug a drupal module.
Debugging
I, personally, have had limited success with Xdebug, both with implementation and use. It's entirely possible that I was using it wrong, but it made the time spent getting it working seem not worth it.
I realize it's not the best situation, but I primarily use three things: Drupal's own logging system, Apache's log files and var_dump(). I was actually debugging a module written by someone else earlier this week, and the Apache logs were very helpful in pin-pointing the source of the problem. There was actually a call stack listed that I could use to follow the flow and find where the problem was. If you have access to the web server's log files, you might try there.
Another thing you can try is the Trace module. It takes a bit of work get set up correctly, and its output can be a bit too much, but what you get is very detailed. It's currently only available for Drupal 5 and 6.
Your frustration would make a good future presentation: How to troubleshoot when (not if) things go wrong in Drupal. A presentation on that topic would probably take quite a bit of time, as it would have to have both working and non-working examples available, and some best practices on circumventing the problems, but it would be a very useful presentation.
I've been using xdebug
I've been using xdebug extensively since Mike mentioned it to me at the last meetup and it is an amazing tool. I would be willing to do a presentation on it, specifically with integrating it into Eclipse and using it as a debugging platform for module authoring.
Are you ready
If you think you are ready to present this at the next meeting, I'll ax Mike from the June meeting and put you on for the May meeting. (I'll worry about June's meeting presentations later.) :^)
I wouldn't want to step on
I wouldn't want to step on Mike's toes if he wanted to do that presentation, but if he's okay with me doing it, I can have it ready by next Friday, no problem.
2 Weeks Till Next Meetup
Cool, I'll do a presentation on Xdebug...but just not at the next Meetup. I'm slammed right now w/ work so won't have time to prepare a presentation. I'll plan on doing it for the next Meetup. Apologies my fellow lvdugers!
However, w/ the meeting up in 2 weeks, I suggest we come up w/ 2 topics soon. I could do a presentation on a beginner topic, but depends on which one people want. The more advanced topics I'm familiar w/ (like debugging) will take more preparation time.
I suggest we have a beginner series, maybe starting w/ Views and/or CCK and how to use them.
For the advanced topic, maybe theming?
We could try to pose to the group and see if we can Meetup twice a month. I saw that the Vegas Rails group has a hackathon WEEKLY! I'm a little envious and want to help lvdug grow...
Twitter
-Michael
Finally following up
I'll put you down for presenting at the next meeting. :^)
By "series", did you mean advanced verses beginner topics, or did you mean presenting a topic (like using Views, etc.) that gets presented over a number of meetings? (I just want to be clear in my mind.)
Yes, I think presenting some level of Drupal themeing would be good for an advanced topic. I also think that getting into module development presentations will be another source for advanced topics. However, both of them could turn into multi-hour presentations, so we would probably want to keep those areas focused on a particular aspect to keep the presentations down to 30-45 minutes. I keep trying to get Lyn to present something on themeing, since that is her focus, but she doesn't feel comfortable with her skill, yet. :^)
I have been thinking about that myself. If we do weekly meetings, and I'm the only one planning, preparing and leading them, I'm likely to get burned out fast. Also, with everything I currently have going on in my life (church, family, work, Scouts), I probably won't have time to prepare for and do any actual presentations myself. I'll be constantly working on the next meeting or two.
What I have seriously thought of doing was two meetings a month. I think because of our current meeting schedule, we miss out on some participation. In reality, however, we would probably have that problem regardless of the day we meet. If we had two meetings a month where the second meeting was on a different day of the week in a different part of the month, then we might be able to attract and encourage more people to attend.
I currently have two issues with that idea. First, I still have limited access to the facility. The other days we currently have available to us are Mondays and Saturdays. I think both days have their drawbacks, but I also think that either would be better than none, and my preference would be for Monday. I would also want to have it such that the two meetings were about two weeks apart from each other, which might introduce scheduling challenges.
The other issue I have with multiple monthly meetings at this point is that it may cause the current group to splinter prematurely, giving the meetings the appearance that we are not very big or very active. The meetings then might only have six or seven or eight people, even though there might be 10-15 regular attenders between the two meetings. If we had enough people commit to being at either meeting, and some people commit to both meetings at the start, we might be able to pull it off. This also might be something we want to wait to start until after summer.
However, we need to get our presentation times down so that we have time to discuss issues. By the time we were done with the second presentation at the last meeting, there were only four people left.
As far as meeting locations
As far as meeting locations go, I had a great experience with the VegasJS meetup on Wednesday at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on Maryland, just north of Tropicana. It's a nice, central location, has plenty of parking, Wifi is available with the purchase of something to drink, and they have a little side room that can be reserved that is great for a meetup like this.
The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf
I have some logistical concerns with that location, like I think it would be hard to do formal presentations there. I was going to start meeting there back in January, when my wife reminded me of her place. We can discuss it on Friday, and with your personal experience, you can convince me why it is a good place to meet. :^)
We had no problem at all
We had no problem at all doing a formal presentation. We reserved the side room, turned the lights off, set up a projector and proceeded beautifully. Here is a picture that was taken:
http://twitpic.com/4qckyl
Xdebug presentation
@visual77 and @mikeejt: are either or both of you ready for doing the Xdebug presentation next week?